My brother and I are planning on driving to Rocky Point from Phoenix next week, and need to know if we can fish on the shore, or how much the fishing boats are? We will not want to spend much money! How much is a daily license? We plan to drive down and fish and drive back same day, unless we can find a decent reasonable priced hotel there? Kenny

Mon May 29, 2006 2:11 pm

R. Barnes

If you're going to fish from the shore, you don't need a license. If you fish on a boat, everyone is supposed to be licensed. I buy my license yearly. I think it cost me about $28.00 last year. There are boat rentals in the Old Port area. The Hotel Perla del Mar on Chihuahua (three blocks in from the Pink Cadillac) charges $30.00 singles, $45.00 doubles on weekdays. We've been staying there since'99. It's clean, modest, and friendly. I go there to fish regularly. Best of luck to you. Robert

Mon May 29, 2006 9:57 pm

lkeckler

Thanks! can you catch anything from the shore? Does it take long to get through the border at Nogales? Are you from Phoenix? How many hours drive is it from Phoenix?

Tue May 30, 2006 9:28 am

R. Barnes

You're welcome Kenny. I'm always glad to help out a fellow angler. You can catch fish from shore. You can catch trigger fish, cabrilla (A spotted sea bass) that usually run pretty small, but good to eat; and maybe a variety of who knows what, off of the rocky point on the south side of the harbor entrance. You can access the beach from a number of places and just surf fish, or you can go south of town, and find some places that have structure that may be OK for lures and jigs. You can sometimes get some mackerel-like fish on lures or jigs that run up to five or six pounds. (good to eat also) Probably the best bait to use is calamari or squid that can be purchased on the malecon for $2 or $3.00 for a pound. I've done OK with shrimp sometimes too or even belly meat off of fish you've already caught. Almost any lure or jig is likely to provoke something.
I abide by speed limits, and it usually takes me four or five hours from Phoenix. I live in Laughlin, NV and sometimes go through Phoenix. Crossing the border is usually just slowing down, and being passed on through. Once in a while they might stop you, so don't bring anything that's not allowed, especially firearms. You can find lists of things that are not allowed on the internet.
If you stay at Hotel Perla del Mar, Jesse the manager loves to fish. If you help him out with boat gas, he might be able to take you out for a little while. Sometimes the US customs will check you over pretty thoroughly, so don't bring anything back you're not supposed to. Again, best of luck to you.